AIR POLLUTION

MONITORING & SAMPLING NEWSLETTER     

January 2010
No. 363

PA Mercury Reduction Rules Do Not Withstand Test

Pennsylvania's highest court is upholding a decision to throw out a state rule that required coal-fired power plants to cut mercury emissions beyond federal standards. The rule required an 80 percent reduction by 2010 and a 90 percent reduction by 2015. The state Supreme Court ruled that Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini was correct when he called the rule unlawful, invalid and unenforceable. The 2007 rule was challenged by PPL Corp., which owns two coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania. The administration of Gov. Ed Rendell fought industry resistance for approval of the rule, which made Pennsylvania the first major coal-mining state to regulate mercury. However, a federal judge last year required mercury to be restored to a list of hazardous pollutants that Pennsylvania state law prohibits it from regulating.

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